NROM flash memory devices on ultrathin silicon

ABSTRACT

An NROM flash memory cell is implemented in an ultra-thin silicon-on-insulator structure. In a planar device, the channel between the source/drain areas is normally fully depleted. An oxide layer provides an insulation layer between the source/drain areas and the gate insulator layer on top. A control gate is formed on top of the gate insulator layer. In a vertical device, an oxide pillar extends from the substrate with a source/drain area on either side of the pillar side. Epitaxial regrowth is used to form ultra-thin silicon body regions along the sidewalls of the oxide pillar. Second source/drain areas are formed on top of this structure. The gate insulator and control gate are formed on top.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.10/714,753, titled “NROM FLASH MEMORY DEVICES ON ULTRATHIN SILICON,”filed Nov. 17, 2003, (pending) which is commonly assigned andincorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to memory devices and inparticular the present invention relates to nitride read only memoryflash memory devices.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The increased speed and capability of computers and other electronicdevices requires better performance from the integrated circuits thatmake up a device. One way to make the integrated circuits faster is toreduce the size of the transistors that make up the device. However, astransistors are made smaller and faster, delays through the connectionsbetween the transistors becomes greater in relation to the speed of thetransistor.

An alternative technique to speed up integrated circuits is to usealternative semiconductors. For example, silicon-on-insulator (SOI)technology provides a 25-35% performance increase over equivalent CMOStechnologies. SOI refers to placing a thin layer of silicon on top of aninsulator such as silicon oxide or glass. The transistors would then bebuilt on this thin layer of SOI. The SOI layer reduces the capacitanceof the transistors so that they operate faster.

FIG. 1 illustrates a typical prior art SOI semiconductor. The transistoris formed in the silicon layer 101 that is over the insulator 102. Theinsulator is formed on top of the substrate 103. Within the siliconlayer 101, the drain/source regions 105 and 106 are formed. The gate 107is formed above the partially depleted channel 109. A floating body 110is within the depleted region 112 and results from the partialdepletion.

SOI technology, however, imposes significant technical challenges. Thesilicon film used for SOI transistors must be perfect crystallinesilicon. The insulator layer, however, is not crystalline. It is verydifficult to make perfect crystalline silicon-on-oxide or silicon withother insulators since the insulator layer's crystalline properties areso different from the pure silicon. If perfect crystalline silicon isnot obtained, defects will find their way onto the SOI film. Thisdegrades the transistor performance.

Additionally, floating body effects in partially depleted CMOS devicesusing SOI technology are undesirable in many logic and memoryapplications. The floating bodies cause threshold voltages and switchingspeeds to be variable and complex functions of the switching history ofa particular logic gate. In dynamic logic and DRAM memories, thefloating bodies cause excess charge leakage and short retention timesthat can cause data loss. In conventional flash memories and NROMdevices, the floating bodies cause reduced erase fields and slower erasetimes.

For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below whichwill become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading andunderstanding the present specification, there is a need in the art fora way to eliminate floating body effects in CMOS devices incorporatingSOI technology.

SUMMARY

The above-mentioned problems with eliminating floating body effects andother problems are addressed by the present invention and will beunderstood by reading and studying the following specification.

The present invention encompasses an NROM transistor having anultra-thin silicon-on-insulator substrate. The silicon has two dopedsource/drain regions separated by a normally fully depleted body region.The doped regions are a different conductivity than the substrate.

An oxide layer is formed above each of the source/drain regions. A gateinsulator is formed over the body region and oxide layer. The gateinsulator is capable of storing a plurality of charges. A control gateis formed on the gate insulator.

Further embodiments of the invention include methods and apparatus ofvarying scope.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of a typical prior art SOIsemiconductor.

FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view of one embodiment for a planar NORNROM cell using ultra-thin SOI.

FIG. 3 shows a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of two verticalNOR NROM cells of the present invention using ultra-thin SOI.

FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of twovertical NOR NROM cells of the present invention using ultra-thin SOI.

FIG. 5 shows an electrical equivalent circuit of a NOR NROM flash memoryarray of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows a cross-sectional view of yet another alternate embodimentof a vertical NOR NROM memory array of the present invention usingultra-thin SOI.

FIG. 7 shows an electrical equivalent circuit of a NOR NROM flash memoryarray of the present invention in accordance with the embodiment of FIG.6.

FIG. 8 shows a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of a planar NANDNROM cell of the present invention using ultra-thin SOI.

FIG. 9 shows a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of two verticalNAND NROM cells of the present invention using ultra-thin SOI.

FIG. 10 shows an electrical equivalent circuit of a NAND NROM flashmemory array of the present invention in accordance with the embodimentof FIG. 9.

FIG. 11 shows a block diagram of one embodiment of an electronic systemof the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description of the invention, reference ismade to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof and in whichis shown, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which theinvention may be practiced. In the drawings, like numerals describesubstantially similar components throughout the several views. Theseembodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilledin the art to practice the invention. Other embodiments may be utilizedand structural, logical, and electrical changes may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention. The followingdetailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense,and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appendedclaims and equivalents thereof.

FIG. 2 illustrates a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of a planarNROM cell using ultra-thin silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology. TheNROM flash memory cell of FIG. 2 is a NOR array cell with virtual groundbit lines.

The NROM flash memory cell is comprised of the silicon layer 201 on theinsulator 202. The silicon 201 in an ultra-thin SOI cell is less than100 nm (1000 Å). This layer 201 is comprised of two source/drain areas220 and 221 that act as bit lines 220 and 221. In one embodiment, theseareas 220 and 221 are n-type material. Alternate embodiments use p-typematerial if the substrate is an n-type material.

The body region 200 between the bit lines 220 and 221 is normally fullydepleted in ultra-thin SOI. The body region 200 is comprised of ionizedacceptor impurities 203 and ionized donor impurities 205. Two oxideareas 210 and 211 are deposited on the silicon 201.

A gate insulator 207, in one embodiment, is a composite structure ofoxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) formed between the control gate 230 and thesilicon layer 201. The control gate 230, in one embodiment, is apolysilicon material and extends in the ‘x’ direction in the NOR flashcell embodiment. The nitride layer 225 has two charge storage areas 231and 232.

Alternate embodiments of the present invention use other gate insulatorsbesides the ONO composite structure shown. These structures may includeoxide-nitride-aluminum oxide composite layers, oxide-aluminumoxide-oxide composite layers, oxide, silicon oxycarbide-oxide compositelayers as well as other composite layers.

In still other alternate embodiments, the gate insulator may includethicker than normal silicon oxides formed by wet oxidation and notannealed, silicon rich oxides with inclusions of nanoparticles ofsilicon, silicon oxynitride layer that are not composite layers, siliconrich aluminum oxide insulators that are not composite layers, siliconoxycarbide insulators that are not composite layers, silicon oxideinsulators with inclusions of nanoparticles of silicon carbide, inaddition to other non-stoichiometric single layers of gate insulators oftwo or more commonly used insulator materials such as Si, N, Al, Ti, Ta,Hf, Zr, and La.

FIG. 3 illustrates a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of twovertical NOR NROM cells 350 and 351 of the present invention usingultra-thin SOI. The vertical embodiment provides for higher densitymemory arrays.

The cells 350 and 351 of FIG. 3 each have source/drain areas 330 and 331that operate as bit lines and are comprised of n+ doped silicon.Alternate embodiments use p-type material if the substrate is comprisedof n-type material. Additional source/drain areas 320 and 321 for eachtransistor are formed at the top of a vertical oxide pillar 310. Theleft transistor 350 uses source/drain areas 320 and 331 while the righttransistor uses source/drain areas 321 and 330. The upper source/drainareas 320 and 321 are separated by a grain boundary but are electricallycoupled. The vertical oxide pillar 310 is an insulator between the twotransistors 350 and 351.

Vertical epitaxial regrowth of amorphous layers is used to providecrystalline layers of ultra-thin silicon 300 and 301 along the sidewallsof the vertical oxide pillar 310. These layers are the ultra-thinsilicon (i.e., <100 nm) body regions 300 and 301 and are normally fullydepleted. The direction of thickness of the silicon body region 300 and301 is illustrated in each region. The left ultra-thin silicon bodyregion is part of the left transistor 350 while the right body region300 is part of the right transistor 351.

The gate insulator layer 307, in one embodiment, is a composite ONOstructure. Alternate embodiments of this layer 307 are disclosed above.The control gate 330 is formed above this insulator layer 307 and iscommon to both transistors 350 and 351 such that it acts as a word linein a memory array. In one embodiment, the control gate 330 is apolysilicon material.

FIG. 4 illustrates a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of twovertical NOR NROM cells of the present invention using ultra-thin SOI.This embodiment has an architecture that is substantially similar to theembodiment of FIG. 3 in that the ultra-thin silicon body regions 400 and401 are formed by epitaxial regrowth along the sidewalls of the oxidepillar 410. The top source/drain areas 420 and 421 are formed at the topof the oxide pillar 410 and the common poly control gate 405 is formedover the gate insulator 420 coupling both transistors 450 and 451 by aword line.

However, in the embodiment of FIG. 4, the bottom oxide layer 402 and 404of the gate insulator 420 is thicker in the trench than in the previousembodiment. Additionally, the two source/drain areas of FIG. 3 arereplaced by a single n+ source/drain region 430 that is isolated betweenthe portions of the thicker oxide layer.

FIG. 5 illustrates an electrical equivalent circuit of a NOR NROM flashmemory array of the present invention. This circuit can represent theplanar embodiments of the present invention as well as the verticalembodiment of FIG. 3.

The control gate 501 crosses all of the devices 510-512 in the array.The n+ source/drain regions 503 and 504 are used as virtual ground dataor bit lines. As is well known in the art, the bit lines of the arrayare coupled to a sense amplifier in order to read data from the cells510-512. The control gate 501 is the word line used to select the cells510-512.

FIG. 6 illustrates a cross-sectional view of yet another alternateembodiment of a vertical NOR NROM memory array of the present inventionusing ultra-thin SOI. This figure illustrates four vertical transistors650-653. For purposes of clarity, only the transistors formed around thefirst oxide pillar 632 are described. The remaining transistors aresubstantially identical in structure and operation.

As in previous embodiments, the two ultra-thin silicon body regions 608and 609 are formed by epitaxial regrowth along the sidewalls of theoxide pillar 632. The gate insulator layers 601 and 602 are formedalongside of the silicon body regions 608 and 609. The n+ polysilicongate structures 630 and 631 for each transistor 650 and 651 are thenformed on the insulator layers 601 and 602.

The nitride layers 603 and 604 provide two charge storage areas 610 and611 for each transistor 650-653. In the trench area, the lower oxidelayer 605 has a thicker composition than the rest of the gate insulatorlayer. The above cells 650-653 are formed on a lower n+ region 620 onthe substrate that acts as a common source/drain area, depending on thedirection that each transistor is biased.

The upper n+ regions 660 and 661 are the second common source/drain areafor each transistor 650 and 651. The upper n+ region 660 and 661 of eachtransistor is coupled to other transistors in the array by a bondingwire 640 or other conductive device.

FIG. 7 illustrates an electrical equivalent circuit of a NOR NROM flashmemory array of the present invention in accordance with the embodimentof FIG. 6. This figure illustrates the respective cells 650-653 asdescribed in FIG. 6 above.

The control gates 701-704 are coupled to other cells in the array andact as word lines. Two of these control gates 701-704 are illustrated inFIG. 6 as 630 and 631. The top common source/drain areas 660 and 661 areshown as virtual ground or data bit line 709 while the commonsource/drain area 620 is shown as virtual ground or data bit line 708.

FIG. 8 illustrates a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of a planarNAND NROM cell of the present invention using ultra-thin SOI. Thisembodiment is comprised of the two source/drain regions 803 and 804 withthe fully depleted body region 801 in the ultra-thin SOI. The two oxideregions 807 and 808 are formed above the n+ areas and the gate insulator805 is formed over this architecture. In one embodiment, the gateinsulator 805 is a composite ONO layer but can be any other type ofmaterial including those described above.

The control gate 806 is formed above the gate insulator 805. In the NANDembodiment, the gate 806 extends in the ‘z’ direction instead of the ‘x’direction as in the NOR embodiment.

FIG. 9 illustrates a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of twovertical NAND NROM cells 910 and 911 of the present invention usingultra-thin SOI. Each transistor 910 and 911 is comprised of asource/drain region 905 and 906 formed in a p-type substrate material.Second source/drain regions 920 and 921 are formed on top of the oxidepillar 930 and separated by the grain boundary while still electricallycoupled. The source/drain regions 905, 906, 920, and 921 function aselectrical connections down the row.

Epitaxial regrowth is used to grow ultra-thin silicon body regions 901and 902 on the sidewalls of the oxide pillar 930. As in previousembodiments, these regions 901 and 902 are each less than 100 nm thick.

The gate insulator 950 is formed on top of the transistors 910 and 911.In one embodiment, the gate insulator 950 is an ONO composite layer.Alternate embodiments for the composition of this layer have beenillustrated previously.

Control gates 907 and 908 for each transistor 910 and 911 respectivelyare formed from a polysilicon material on each side of the gateinsulator 950. The control gates 907 and 908 are coupled to othertransistors to act as word lines.

FIG. 10 illustrates an electrical equivalent circuit of a NAND NROMflash memory array of the present invention in accordance with theembodiment of FIG. 9. The two transistors 910 and 911 of FIG. 9 areshown.

The n+ source/drain connection 1005 of FIG. 10 corresponds to the twosource/drain regions 920 and 921 of FIG. 9. The word lines 1001 and 1002of FIG. 10 correspond to the control gate 907 and 908 respectively ofFIG. 9. The source/drain regions 905 and 906 formed in the substrate ofFIG. 9 correspond to the source/drain connections 1009 and 1007 of FIG.10.

The above embodiments are illustrated as n-channel type transistors.However, one of ordinary skill in the art will understand that theconductivity types can be reversed by altering the doping types suchthat the present invention is equally applicable to include structuresNROM structures having ultra-thin silicon, p-channel type transistors.

The masking and etching steps used to form the ultra-thin silicon NROMflash memory cells of the present invention are not discussed in detail.The various steps required to form the above-described architectures arewell known by those skilled in the art.

FIG. 11 illustrates a functional block diagram of a memory device 1100that can incorporate the ultra-thin SOI flash memory cells of thepresent invention. The memory device 1100 is coupled to a processor1110. The processor 1110 may be a microprocessor or some other type ofcontrolling circuitry. The memory device 1100 and the processor 1110form part of an electronic system 1120. The memory device 1100 has beensimplified to focus on features of the memory that are helpful inunderstanding the present invention.

The memory device includes an array of flash memory cells 1130. In oneembodiment, the memory cells are NROM flash memory cells and the memoryarray 1130 is arranged in banks of rows and columns. The control gatesof each row of memory cells is coupled with a wordline while the drainand source connections of the memory cells are coupled to bitlines. Asis well known in the art, the connection of the cells to the bitlinesdepends on whether the array is a NAND architecture or a NORarchitecture.

An address buffer circuit 1140 is provided to latch address signalsprovided on address input connections A0-Ax 1142. Address signals arereceived and decoded by a row decoder 1144 and a column decoder 1146 toaccess the memory array 1130. It will be appreciated by those skilled inthe art, with the benefit of the present description, that the number ofaddress input connections depends on the density and architecture of thememory array 1130. That is, the number of addresses increases with bothincreased memory cell counts and increased bank and block counts.

The memory device 1100 reads data in the memory array 1130 by sensingvoltage or current changes in the memory array columns usingsense/buffer circuitry 1150. The sense/buffer circuitry, in oneembodiment, is coupled to read and latch a row of data from the memoryarray 1130. Data input and output buffer circuitry 1160 is included forbi-directional data communication over a plurality of data connections1162 with the controller 1110). Write circuitry 1155 is provided towrite data to the memory array.

Control circuitry 1170 decodes signals provided on control connections1172 from the processor 1110. These signals are used to control theoperations on the memory array 1130, including data read, data write,and erase operations. The control circuitry 1170 may be a state machine,a sequencer, or some other type of controller.

Since the NROM memory cells of the present invention use a CMOScompatible process, the memory device 1100 of FIG. 11 may be an embeddeddevice with a CMOS processor.

The flash memory device illustrated in FIG. 11 has been simplified tofacilitate a basic understanding of the features of the memory. A moredetailed understanding of internal circuitry and functions of flashmemories are known to those skilled in the art.

CONCLUSION

In summary, the NROM flash memory cells of the present invention utilizeultra-thin SOI to provide a fully depleted body region. This eliminatesthe undesirable floating body effects experienced by partially depletedCMOS devices.

Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and describedherein, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the artthat any arrangement that is calculated to achieve the same purpose maybe substituted for the specific embodiments shown. Many adaptations ofthe invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art.Accordingly, this application is intended to cover any adaptations orvariations of the invention. It is manifestly intended that thisinvention be limited only by the following claims and equivalentsthereof.

1. A vertical NROM flash memory array comprising: a substrate having afirst plurality of source/drain regions; an oxide pillar extendingoutward from the substrate; a plurality of ultra-thin silicon bodyregions, each comprising epitaxial regrowth of silicon along oppositesidewalls of the oxide pillar, each body region extending verticallyfrom a different source/drain region; a second plurality of source/drainregions formed on the oxide pillar, each source/drain region coupled toa different body region; an insulator layer formed over the firstplurality of source/drain regions, the plurality of body regions, andthe second plurality of source/drain regions; and a control gate formedover the insulator layer.
 2. The array of claim 1 wherein a firsttransistor of the memory array is comprised of a first source/drainregion from the first plurality of source/drain regions, a firstultra-thin silicon body region, a first source/drain region from thesecond plurality of source/drain regions, a portion of the insulatorlayer over the first silicon body region, and a portion of the controlgate over the portion of the insulator layer.
 3. The array of claim 1wherein the insulator layer is comprised of a compositeoxide-nitride-oxide structure.
 4. The array of claim 3 wherein the loweroxide layer has a greater thickness in a trench on either side of theoxide pillar than a remaining portion formed around the oxide pillar. 5.The array of claim 4 wherein the first plurality of source/drain regionsis isolated between each trench.
 6. The array of claim 1 wherein thefirst and second plurality of source/drain regions are n+ doped siliconregions.
 7. The array of claim 1 wherein the second plurality ofsource/drain regions are separated by a grain boundary and areelectrically coupled.
 8. The array of claim 1 wherein the control gateis comprised of polysilicon.
 9. A vertical NROM flash memory arraycomprising a substrate having a lower source/drain region; an oxidepillar extending outward from the substrate above the lower source/drainregion; a plurality of ultra-thin silicon body regions, each comprisingepitaxial regrowth of silicon along opposite sidewalls of the oxidepillar, each body region extending vertically from each side of thelower source/drain region; an upper source/drain region formed on theoxide pillar, each side of the upper source/drain region coupled to adifferent body region; an insulator layer formed around either side ofthe lower source/drain region, the plurality of body regions, and theupper source/drain region, portions of the insulator layer on each sideof the lower source/drain region having a greater thickness than theremaining insulator layer such that the lower source/drain region isisolated between the thicker insulator layer portions; and a controlgate formed over the insulator layer.
 10. The memory array of claim 9wherein the thicker insulator layer portions are a lower oxide layer.11. The memory array of claim 9 wherein the lower and upper source/drainregions are n+ doped regions.
 12. The memory array of claim 9 whereinthe function of each source/drain region depends on biasing of eachsource/drain region.
 13. The memory array of claim 9 wherein the arrayis a NAND array.
 14. The memory array of claim 9 wherein the array is aNOR array.
 15. A pair of vertical, NOR NROM flash memory cellscomprising: a first source region and a first drain region doped into asubstrate; a pillar extending outward from the substrate andsubstantially between the first source and drain regions; ultra-thinsilicon body regions extending along opposite sidewalls of the pillar, afirst body region extending vertically from the first source region anda second body region extending vertically from the first drain region; asecond source region and a second drain region formed on the pillar,each source and drain region coupled to a different body region; aninsulator layer formed over the first source and drain regions, theplurality of body regions, and the second source and drain regions; anda gate formed over the insulator layer.
 16. The memory cells of claim 15wherein the insulator layer is comprised of a compositeoxide-nitride-oxide structure.
 17. The memory cells of claim 16 whereinthe nitride is a charge storage layer.
 18. The memory cells of claim 15wherein the second source and drain regions are doped into a siliconlayer formed over the pillar.
 19. The memory cells of claim 15 whereinthe pillar is an oxide material.
 20. The memory cells of claim 15wherein the second source and drain regions are electrically coupledthrough a grain boundary.